ARLINGTON, TEXAS—What we learned while watching fourth-seeded Michigan dominate third-seeded Florida from start to finish in a 79-59 win at Cowboys Stadium and earn its first trip to the Final Four since the Fab Five went to the championship game in 1993. For Florida, this was the third year in a row its season ended in the Elite Eight, one disappointing step short of the Final Four.

Stauskas can shoot

Nik Stauskas led Michigan with 22 points. (AP Photo)

Michigan has so many great offensive options who requite extra attention that teams have to choose where to focus their defensive pressure. Clearly, Nik Stauskas wasn’t high on Florida’s priority list, because the freshman shooter spent the first half of the game all alone beyond the perimeter.

It’s hard to completely fault Florida for that mindset. Mitch McGary and Glen Robinson III have been outstanding in the tournament, Trey Burke is Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, Jr., is capable of huge nights. Stauskas, on the other hand, was just 2-for-16 from beyond the arc in Michigan’s past four games.

He had a feeling that skid would end soon, though.

“I’ve been getting great shots and everything’s been feeling good,” Stauskas said during his Saturday afternoon breakout interview session. “I’ve been missing open looks. I kinda look at it as a good thing, because I’m due for a big game here sometime.”

Stauskas had a monster first half against the Gators. He was 5-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc and made his only other field goal attempt, too, on an aggressive drive into the lane. And he was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 0.4 seconds left in the half; he made two of those three attempts to finish with 19 points.

He matched his season high of 22 points—set December 1 against Bradley—with his first shot of the second half.

You call that a comeback?

The Gators started their potentially game-saving rally quickly. They scored the first six points of the second half to trim Michigan’s 47-30 halftime lead to just 11 points.

In an Elite Eight game, with massive swings of momentum possible under pressure-packed circumstances, that type of lead is nothing. We’ve seen bigger comebacks all tournament, and almost saw Ohio State wipe out a 20-point second-half deficit against Wichita State on Saturday.

But then Stauskas drilled another 3-pointer—his sixth of the game, in as many chances—and Michigan again had a two-touchdown lead in Cowboys Stadium. Kenny Boynton answered with a jumper for Florida, but then the Gators suffered yet-another disastrous mental lapse in the game.

After Mitch McGary scored inside, Michigan backup point guard Spike Albrecht stole the inbounds pass and scored. The four points in a couple of seconds pushed the Wolverines’ lead back to 16 points, on the way to as much as 25 points, and the Gators never seriously challenged again.

Final Four 2013

Florida forwards

In its overtime Sweet 16 victory, Michigan gave up 60 points in the paint against Kansas.

Sunday, Florida’s primary big men couldn’t do much of anything inside. In the first half, starting forwards Patric Young and Erik Murphy were a combined 1-for-8 from the field. Young picked up a pair of fouls just two minutes into the game, which meant he sat for a while and then played tentative the rest of the way. Murphy took—and missed, obviously—Florida’s first two shot attempts of the game, both from inside the lane.

Things never got better for Murphy. He came into this game with a stellar 126.3 offensive rating, according to kenpom.com—which was 17th in the country—and shooting 53.4 percent from the field. The senior finished with one of the worst games of his career.

His plus-minus rating—the difference in score while he was on the court—was an anemic minus-30. Young finished with eight points.